The Ballad of Relinquished Dreams
by lies-d
Summary: A strange new feeling has developed between Bradley and Ickis, one that will lead to a big change for Ickis and everyone else in his life. Aaahh Real Monsters. Slash. Bradley/Ickis
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

The Forbidden Lovers

"Stop that! I mean it! Stop it!!" Ickis hated it when his voice got all high and reedy. It was something it seemed he would never outgrow, even now that he was passed the Hideous Change.

"But you're so fuzzy! Fuzzy bunny! Fuzzy bunny!" Nearly double Ickis's size now, Bradley had the small monster firmly tackled, and was rubbing the alleged fuzz on his head.

It was a game they played - it was only effective if it was played at random, and for real. Ickis *really* couldn't move. Bradley *really* was rubbing his head. And Ickis *really* got mad.

Breathing hard now, Ickis began to swell. Bradley stopped rubbing and let him go - Ickis would need to concentrate.

Ickis stood up, eyes red with rage. He was nearly Bradley's height. . .now he was past it. . .he tried stopping at about six feet. And. . .he did it. Four, five, six seconds. . . He was actually controlling his height.

Bradley had to look up to see Ickis's face. He tried not to smile for his friend's success. If he smiled Ickis would disarm and deflate - he had to scowl, or frown, or at least keep up a cold neutral expression.

There - Ickis looked away. He took a few steps. Studying his hands and then his body, Ickis tried nodding slowly.

"I think. . ." Even his voice was swollen, deep and basso, "It's something about the _breathing_."

He looked up at Bradley again. Bradley couldn't help it - a flicker of a smile appeared at the edge of his mouth. This was a major breakthrough for Ickis, something they'd been working on for years.

Ickis frowned as he felt himself shrinking. But this time. . .he closed his eyes and concentrated on the frown and on his breathing. He opened his eyes. . .eye level being now centred only a little above Bradley's stomach.

"Sorry, Ickis. I couldn't help it." Bradley flopped back onto his bed. Ickis climbed up beside him. "But hey - you did pretty good that time. With a little practice you can be tall all the time."

"Awww, I guess so." He winced - he voice was back up to its usual annoying pitch. "Krumm and Oblina won't even believe me when I tell them. . .if I ever get a chance to tell them with the way they've been lately." Ickis tried to look nonchalantly up at the ceiling. "Do you mind if I stay here tonight?"

Bradley looked over at Ickis. "Sure. Why?"

Ickis sighed, but didn't meet Bradley's eyes. "Well, you now, Oblina called dibbs on the dorm to bring over her new bleck-monster, and Krumm is taking someone over to his dad's place. Ever since the Hideous Change they've been. . .well, we haven't had much chance to catch up."

"Well, at least they're still your friends." Said Bradley. "At least you still _have_ friends."

"They're your friends too!. . .I mean, if you ever needed help, or something, you could call them, because. . ."

"Because they're your friends and they'd do you a favour." Bradley shook his head. "You're the only real friend I have." He shrugged.

Ickis tried to reassure Bradley with a smile, but Bradley was staring resolutely up at the ceiling. Ickis reached over and took Bradley's hand. He felt a grateful squeeze.

"Heh. Even your hand is fuzzy." Said Bradley. He hauled Ickis over on top of himself, grinning in his face. They leaned together for a few moments, poised to engage in some kind of horseplay. Somehow they remained still, their eyes locked together, their breath playing on each other's faces, while their smiles melted into something else.

Ickis didn't feel fuzzy. He felt. . .gooey. Looking over at his hand, both he and Bradley saw that the skin where their fingertips met seemed to be. . .melting together, almost. It was the strangest thing.

They drew apart - the melting stopped. Tentatively, Ickis pressed his hand closer again and watched while his skin began to gravitate towards Bradley.

Pulling away, Ickis sat up beside Bradley, rubbing his hand as though it were itchy.

"I didn't think that you could do that with a human." He muttered, almost to himself.

Bradley's cheeks were flushed red, but he didn't seem alarmed. From this close, his sweat made a not-unpleasant odour to the young monster.

"What _was_ that?" the human asked.

Ickis gulped as he searched for the right words.

"It's. . .um. . .It's the reason why Oblina and Krumm wanted to be alone with their dates so badly."

Bradley frowned, thinking. He eyebrows raised. "You mean, like. . .monster, well, you know. . ." His face became even more flush. "Is that how monsters do it?"

"Do what?"

"It's, um, this thing that humans do when they're alone with someone else. . .it's kind of embarrassing. . .we're probably talking about the same thing." Looking away towards the ceiling, Bradley smiled lopsidedly. "I was sort of wondering how monsters. . .how it was for you."

Contemplating his feet, Ickis seemed a little morose.

"So what, do you have to start wearing gloves so at some point so you won't touch anyone accidentally?" Bradley said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ickis winced. "It's. . ." Voice _much_ too reedy, Ickis cleared his throat and tried again. "It's something that only happens when two monsters like each other, in _that _sort of way." See - he could be brave! He hadn't even really given anything away. Ickis looked over at Bradley and remembered how sharp his human friend could be.

Bradley met his gaze steadily. There was something there in Bradley's expression, something unexpected.

"Then you. . ." Bradley's voice had the opposite affliction of becoming low and soft when stressed. "You like me. . .that same way that I like you."

Suddenly panicked, Ickis stood up. He backed away towards the bathroom, and the comforting prospect of escape.

"IthinkthatIhavetogonowbye!" Ickis glanced back, the word _sorry _dying on his lips.

Bradley was sitting up. He looked hurt. Ickis hadn't expected that either.

"I thought you wanted to stay tonight." Said Bradley.

Ickis gulped. He stood frozen.

"Aren't you scared?" Ickis asked, finally. He himself was shaking.

The human smiled. "You don't scare me, Ickis. You're too fuzzy."

Bradley held out his hand.

Step by jolting step, Ickis yanked himself towards Bradley, the hand, the bed. . .

Bradley grinned and took his arm, pulling him up.

Ickis's eyes wandered the soft, squishy body beside him. Bradley had no idea. . .that Ickis knew all of his most ticklish spots. With a devilish grin, Ickis dove for his ribs.

There was tousling and there was tickling. Soon it became simply touching. Neither had any intentions, or realized what they were doing, what they'd done, until much later.

It was a strange thing, as strange as they were to each other, and as strange as both were to the world outside. Each was compelled by needs they didn't understand. Incredibly, impossibly, Bradley felt the burning of his fingertips, and Ickis felt the blood rush of human desire. It was a blending of ways, a blending of people, a blending of themselves.

It was strange, but so, so familiar. Beautiful and yet monstrous. It made them more complete than they were alone.

It was perfect. And they couldn't stop.

*******


	2. Chapter 2

Warning: Here there be Mpreg. Flee if you must.

Part 2

The Downfall of a Master

~*~*~*~

"You CANNOT POSSIBLY be doing what I think you're doing." The Gromble let his voice slide from its impressive full volume down to an infinitely more menacing growl.

But they were doing it. They were standing there, standing up to _him_. Both Oblina and Krumm were shaking in their little booties as well they should be, but with a stance that made it clear that they weren't going to move. It looked as though they would actually resort to _physical force, _if need be, to keep the Gromble out of their bedroom, or more accurately, out of their roommate's bedroom - away from said roommate _Ickis_, who was at this very moment, the Gromble was certain, hiding from him as he had been for the past two weeks.

So be it.

The Gromble cracked his knuckles. It has actually been a long time since anyone had actually held up through his impressive force of intimidation.

Ten seconds later two young monsters lay flung across the room, groaning and no doubt broken in several places. Dusting off his hands, the Gromble bashed in their door with one swift kick.

******

Later, in the Gromble's office. . .

The clicking sound of his ruby shoes on the floor didn't soothe his nerves as it usually did, so the Gromble stopped pacing and took to staring at the diplomas and certificates on his wall.

Sitting uncomfortably on the deliberately uncomfortable chair that the Gromble kept in his office for students, Ickis wrapped his arms around his bloated stomach, seemingly in a ridiculous attempt to hide his pregnancy. Clearly the stress was getting to his brain. It had gotten to the Gromble's brain long since now.

_Damn _the school nurse. What had he been _thinking _to bring such a delicate matter to one of the biggest known gossips in the dump? That was just it - the Gromble hadn't been thinking. Those two phrases uttered by Ickis in that dorm room had erased all cogent thought from his mind.

"I'm pregnant." And later, after the cursing and yelling and half-finished lecture about the importance of his career - "It was a human."

The Gromble hadn't believed him. It wasn't possible. That's why he'd promptly dragged the young monster to the nurse.

_Thank the_ _Pit _he'd grabbed the test result himself. The nurse hadn't had the chance to see what it said before the Gromble promptly ripped it to shreds.

"The test confirms he's pregnant." Said the Gromble. He didn't mention that the test also confirmed the pregnancy was abnormal – _abomination_ said the second test strip, a ridiculous observance kept in honour of an ancient law to guard against circumstances such as these.

So it was true. The Gromble wasn't thinking before, but he was thinking now. Except one thought kept intruding into his mind, over and over: _Ickis was going to be best pupil he ever had._ He would be the _one_.

The Gromble's own mentor had told him about it once - there were not many who would understand. There was nothing like it in the world, as a master teacher, to find the one who would be _better than you_. He'd seen it from the boy's first year. Ickis had the potential to become a phenomenon in the monster community - surpassing his friends, his teachers, and even his father, easily. He would be the next legend. The Gromble had seen it.

The boy couldn't be charged with Consorting. It _couldn't _happen.

"They'll destroy you, you know. The punishment for joining with a human is death. One of the few monster laws still kept from antiquity." Said the Gromble absently. He supposed the boy ought to know.

Ickis squealed incoherently.

There weren't many options. The Gromble was going through them as fast as he could. Flight would be pointless, he concluded. Exile is so unsavoury – no glory at all, between hiding from society and scratching for survival. Ickis would just have to own up to the fact that he was _with blob_. It was a disadvantageous position for someone his age, but no disaster. Deny any human involvement – that was they key. Who, then could the father be? If Ickis tried to falsely accuse someone, it could easily be dis-proven with a test. And he'd had the bad luck to have conceived during a week when both of his friends, Oblina and Krumm, had air-tight alibis, with witnesses. Even if one of them wanted to claim responsibility, it could be easily disproved.

_A pox on the nurse!!_ Representatives from the school board were already knocking at the Gromble's door. He couldn't very well hide – he welcomed them in with all due cordiality.

When Slickis walked in with the rest of them (_damn, that nurse was fast_), Ickis, the fool, scurried to hide behind him, giving everyone in the room ample opportunity to see just how large his stomach was.

"So, he _is _pregnant." Said superintendent Blork.

"Of course he is, I'm not blind. He's about three weeks along – he's only got one more before he pops. Like _I _couldn't recognize a pregnant student." The Gromble was killing time and they knew it.

"Who's the other parent?" Ms. Loogorga cut right to the quick.

Ickis trembled into his father's shoulder, squeaking.

"It's, ahh," The Gromble gulped.

Seconds ticked by. The board stared at him.

"Me." The Gromble finished at last.

The room went dead silent except for Ickis's well-timed shriek. With one look the Gromble quelled him – this was it, they both knew it. Everyone would be shocked and appalled, and totally unsuspecting of the _truth_. The boy had stopped trembling already.

The Gromble looked calmly from face to angry face. It wasn't _illegal,_ per se, for a teacher to consort with a student, but it was highly frowned upon. And Ickis wasn't yet of age – there was that.

Slickis looked as though he could have torn the Gromble limb from limb.

"I was getting tired of this job anyways." Said the Gromble. "You'll have my resignation tomorrow. And of course, I intend to the right thing." He drew himself up. "The wedding will follow very shortly."

Without further ado the school board members filed out, already in their minds preparing the salacious story for their friends and relative. Ickis scampered away to his friends, too shocked by the turn of events to say thank you.

Only Slickis stayed. It was an unwritten law that the parents of newly impregnated students were allowed a certain amount of. . .retaliation. He couldn't break any bone more than twice, he couldn't damage any organs, and he couldn't cause any lasting scars, but he would take the price for his son's virtue in pain.

"Wait, wait. . .at least let me take off my shoes! Maybe this _wasn't _the best idea." The Gromble's voice rose to a whine as Slickis advanced.

*******


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

The View From The Top

~*~*~*~

After nine years of marriage, everybody knew about it. Still, it was always a bit disconcerting to others when Ickis called his spouse 'Sir' in public. It raised images of a very sordid private life between the two that nobody really wanted to contemplate. And the way the Gromble would yell at him at the drop of a hat!

Even so, despite its scandalous beginnings and bizarre power dynamic, nobody could deny that the relationship between Ickis and the Gromble had been a very fruitful one. Since the Gromble had been drummed out of the academy system, he seemed to have had no choice but to concentrate all of his training efforts on his last remaining pupil - Ickis. And if the Gromble had been demanding as a schoolmaster, he was _ten times_ so as a spouse. His harsh methods had sent the collective tongue wagging for years after the wedding – _Twenty hours of scaring a day? You can't be serious! And did you see it when he rode on the boy's shoulders all through the dump square, whipping him with a crop? No! Yes! No! How awful!!_

The results of his tutelage were impressive. After emerging as the best competitive scare-athlete in the city dump in only a few years, Ickis was now being hailed as the next world-scaring champion. He'd been on two globe-wide tours already – they were just now recently returned from a stay in the great human cities across the sea.

The local officials had thrown Ickis the most lavish coming-home party the dump had ever seen, falling all over themselves trying to convince him not to move away permanently. Mayor Gooblipor had gone so far as to bring out his world-famous fermented sock juice – a delicacy even for the well traveled. That paired with the joy of seeing his best friends Oblina and Krumm after nearly a year's separation had been enough to make for a very raucous night of celebration indeed.

"You may be able to scare a Prime Minister at two hundred paces, my boy, *hic* but you sure can't hold your liquor." The Gromble had to lean on the wall as he carefully kicked off his shoes. Draped limply in his arms, Ickis made a few open-mouthed gurgling noises.

Slickis was waiting up for them by the fireplace. No longer one for the limelight, he had opted to stay home with Brickis, his grandson. Grandfatherhood had made him the very soul of easygoing. Slickis had grown accustomed to the Gromble as being a part of his family. However unorthodox his relationship to Ickis might be, the Gromble had long since proven that he was genuinely committed to the young monster.

Apart from Krumm and Oblina, Slickis was one of the only monsters in the world who knew that they shared separate bedrooms.

"Whoah, let me get him for you." Slickis hurried to gather up his son from the Gromble's tired arms. "Had a bit too much of a good time, I see."

"Nobody entertains like a flock of rump-kissing politicians. It's better than a three-mould circus." Replied the Gromble, following Slickis down the hall towards the bedrooms.

Placed into his bed, Ickis began to mumble plaintively, it sounded something like. . ._b__rad_. _. .bradley. . ._

The Gromble retrieved something from Ickis's still-unpacked bag on the floor. A large garment of some kind – it looked like a shirt, in a size only a very large monster could wear. He dropped it onto Ickis, who promptly curled himself up around it, buried his face in the knitted fabric, went to sleep, and dreamed of someone far away.

The End.

~*~*~*~

Author's note: Well, thanks for reading. I haven't actually seen the show in years, so some of the details about the monster world might be inaccurate. Please note I've never actually *seen* the episode that explains how blobs are made.

I'm not sure what inspired this fic, except the memory that I really enjoyed that cartoon. I had originally planned a much longer fic involving Brickis and the fate of the monster world in which it would have been explained why the monster ancients absolutely forbade consorting with humans, but that would involve more research and and re-watching of the show (and writing) than I have time to do right now. Maybe someday. I have a feeling the mythology of this show would lend itself terrifically to some Gaiman-esque urban fantasy treatment.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the story. If you did, please tell me so, and how.


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